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(Word Count 1513 for those who want to print off to read)
The Roots of Gay Oppression
Homosexuality may be defined as an attraction to the same sex and of or
pertaining to sexual relations between persons of the same sex.
In ancient Greece, homosexuality permeated every aspect of life, but the development of Judaism, Christianity and Islam as international powers, able to wield influence over a wide range of human affairs, led to homosexuality being outlawed.
An early condemnation of homosexuality occurs in the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament. Adultery was condemned because it could confuse paternity, but polygamy was accepted. Interestingly, polygamy is considered wrong by most Christians, and the prohibition on wearing clothing of mixed fibres in Leviticus is rarely heeded.
From about the twelfth century onwards homosexuality became to be perceived as a vice and harsh penalties were meted out. In Britain an ecclesiastical law of 1290 ordered sodomites to be buried alive, but this sentence never seems to have been carried out; the few sodomites who were convicted by the Church courts were hanged by the secular authorities.
King Henry VIII introduced hanging as the punishment for sodomy in 1533
to remove the power of the Roman Catholic Church that he was in the process of breaking away from. Anne Boleyn was beheaded for alleged adultery in 1536 although this has ceased to be regarded as a crime. Incest was, however, a sensitive subject for Henry VIII because one of his wives, Catherine of Aragon, had previously been married to his brother. As a consequence incest was not made a criminal offence until 1908.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there were few prosecutions for sodomy in the British courts. King James I who succeeded to the British throne in 1603 had been infatuated with his cousin, the Duke of Lennox, in his youth and the law was enforced less vigorously during his reign.
In the seventeenth century many families lived precariously near the subsistence level and a blind eye was turned to homosexuality despite its illegality. Local authorities were more concerned to prevent the birth of children who might have to be supported by the parish. The Society for the Reformation of Manners was formed in 1691 and provoked riots when it tried to close brothels. It had more success when it denounced homosexuals, several of whom were hanged. In the 1720s, homosexuals responded by setting up 'molly houses' where heterosexual relationships were mimicked and mocked. Despite sporadic prosecutions the police made no real attempts to close the 'molly houses' down.
As early as 1728 men solicited in London for the sole purpose of
blackmailing those who responded to their advances. Police spies and
agent provocateurs were first used in England to trap homosexuals.
In the 1760s and 1770s there were only two death sentences passed on
homosexuals and on both occasions the men were pardoned by George III.
After 1781 conviction rates fell after a legal decision made it necessary to prove both emission and penetration.
After about 1800 there was a sharp increase in executions for convicted
homosexuals. In 1805-1815, 28 out of 42 convicted homosexuals were
hanged. In 1846 more death sentences were pronounced for sodomy than for
murder although after 1836 the death sentences were commuted and in 1861
penal servitude of between ten years and life replaced the death sentence for sodomy in England and Wales. Scotland followed suit in 1889.
Men of wealth and influence could escape the clutches of the law. In 1842, Sir Felix Booth, who had financed an expedition to the Arctic and received a baronecy for his part in seeking a Northwest Passage was not charged with sodomy. The 'offences', having occurred some years earlier would have been difficult to prove, but the political and social embarrassment resulting from such a prosecution carried considerable weight. Much earlier, Richard I ('the Lionheart') had a passionate affair with King Philip of France which was carried on quite openly.
Oscar Wilde was the most famous homosexual to be prosecuted during the
Victorian era. He received two years hard labour in 1895 although '...it was the act of treason of taking working-class boys to upper-class clubs which sealed his fate.' (N. Greig, Introduction to Edward Carpenter: Selected Writings. Gay Modern Press, 1984)
By contrast, the writer Edward Carpenter, who lived openly with his lover George Merrill from 1890, was not prosecuted because he lived quietly in Derbyshire for most of the time and did not draw undue attention to himself. However, Carpenter's books, which included writings on homosexuality, were withdrawn by his regular publisher after Oscar Wilde's trial, and he lost his seat on the council in 1909 after a smear campaign by a political opponent.
In the twentieth century the persecution of homosexuals continued: in
1942 at Abergavenny 18 men received gaol sentences of between 10 months
and 12 years. In 1955 alone, 1065 men were imprisoned for homosexual
offences and in 1951 a campaign against homosexuals in government service started after Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean absconded to Russia after it was revealed that they had spied for the Russians for years.
In 1954, Michael Pitt-Rivers, Peter Wildeblood and Lord Montague of
Beaulieu were imprisoned for homosexual offences. Like Oscar Wilde they
had broken ranks by consorting with the poor.
The Wolfenden Committee report on Homosexuality and Prostitution in 1954
led to a change in policy regarding police intervention and sentencing of convicted offenders. In 1956 prosecutions fell by 12%, convictions by 11% and the number of homosexuals imprisoned by 28% compared with the previous year. By 1963 the number of custodial sentences for homosexuality was less than half of that of 1954.
Finally, in 1967, homosexual acts carried out in private between consenting adults over 21 years of age ceased to be criminal offences. This has since been reduced to 18 years of age and the Government is currently trying to reduce the age to 16.
In Sexual Behaviour and the Human Male (1948) Alfred Kinsey found that 37% of the male population had homosexual experience to the point of orgasm and that a further 13% reacted erotically to other men without having overt homosexual contacts after adolescence.
Homophobics often try to justify their vindictiveness by claiming that they wish to protect children, but there is no evidence that homosexuals are any more likely to harm children than any other men.
The armed forces have been particularly concerned because homosexual acts tend to increase when men live in close proximity to each other without the society of women and because of fears that sexual relations between men of different ranks would threaten the hierarchical order. Curiously, this problem seems to concern the military hierarchy less during peace-time conscription and war.
Lesbianism has never been a crime in Britain despite an attempt by three
Conservative MPs to make it illegal in 1921. Lesbians, however, have experienced discrimination and ridicule even if they have been spared criminal prosecution.
The change from a criminal to a medical explanation led to homosexuals being 'treated' with drugs, psychotherapy and aversion therapy. As recently as 1962, Henderson and Gillespie's Textbook of Psychiatry argued in favour of trying to prevent homosexuality. The American Psychiatric Association decided to delete homosexuality from its official list of pathologies by taking a vote!
Most teenagers seem to be aware of their homosexuality between 12-14 years of age, but such is the social pressure to conform that 61% of lesbians and a quarter of male homosexuals had their first sexual experience with a member of the opposite sex. The London Gay Teenage Group found, from a sample of over 600 homosexual teenagers, that over half had been verbally abused, a fifth had been
beaten up, one in ten had been thrown out of home and many others sent to a doctor or psychiatrist. Suicide had been attempted by one- fifth of them because of intolerable social pressures.
The Catholic Church is notoriously homophobic, a Catholic Truth Society
pamphlet of 1986 described homosexuality as an 'intrinsic moral evil' - as if an organisation which could officially sanction the Spanish Inquisition for over 350 years could be an expert on morals!
Estimates of the incidence of homosexuality vary considerably, but Kinsey's study, which found an incidence of 4% amongst adult white males, is the only reliable one and even sceptics have failed to disprove it.
The original, but false, declaration that AIDS was to be found in homosexuals, Negroes and drug addicts gave bigots a field day. Since then, the rising number of deaths amongst heterosexuals has led to a reduction in the press reporting in this sensational, inflammatory and inaccurate way.
In May 1988 the Halsbury clause of the Local Government Act became law,
making it illegal for local authorities to give financial or other assistance for the purpose of publishing or promoting 'homosexuality as a pretended family relationship' or for the purpose of teaching such acceptability in a grant maintained school. The Government is now trying to overturn this discriminatory legislation.
The sexual activities of consenting adults, entered into freely and causing no harm to others, should be of no concern to anyone else. Discrimination against minority groups is wrong, but much of the homophobia has been generated by the major religions with their warped morality and distorted views of society. Fortunately, Christianity is declining in this country and its power to interfere with our lives is restricted as a consequence.
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